


More Than This

by shadowsfan



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: A hot mess though, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff and Crack, M/M, Stannis is a mess, musician au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-07
Updated: 2015-01-18
Packaged: 2018-02-28 12:19:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2732243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowsfan/pseuds/shadowsfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stannis is a grumpy folk singer/songwriter and Davos plays guitar.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Tell me you aren’t singing the theme from ‘Annie,’” Davos said, rolling his eyes as he struggled to find room for another guitar stand in the back of the van.  He could always tell how much Stannis had had to drink by what song he was humming under his breath.  Once he’d moved past eighties pop and started on show tunes, he was well beyond hope.  Davos wondered vaguely if they had any plastic barf bags up front.  He shoved the stand between the drum kit and the amp and slid the door shut.

 

“Well, it _is_ a hard knock life, isn’t it?  Truer words and all that rubbish.  Here, let me help you with that.”  Instead of helping, Stannis continued to sag against the alley wall attempting to light a cigarette, his fingers ineffectually fumbling with his lighter.

 

“Don’t trouble yourself, I’m finished.   Brynden and I loaded most of it while you were wearing out your welcome at the bar.”  Davos carefully recovered the lighter from Stannis’hand, lit a smoke for him and inserted it between his lips.  Stannis took a drag and squinted at him in the dim light cast by the street lamp.  He looked a mess.  Disheveled and sweaty after the show, jaw peppered with late night stubble, reeking of cigarettes and whisky, and still Davos found him sexy as hell.

 

“It’s a good thing there aren’t any of your groupies out here to see you like this.” 

 

In fact Davos was surprised it was so quiet. The bar had been packed with fans.  Stannis’cover of Woody Guthrie and Billy Bragg’s “Walt Whitman’s Niece” had brought down the house.  Davos had to admit that one always made him smile because Stannis sang it for him.  _A seaman friend of mine, I_ _’_ _ll not say which seaman_ ─ that lyric reminded him of the way they’d met, working on that commercial fishing boat all those years ago in Seattle.  Davos had played guitar, and Stannis sang.  All that time at sea, they’d practiced together and written a few original songs.  When they had shore leave they’d added a drummer and started playing clubs and folk festivals.  Stannis’lyrics had the right amount of angst to get them decent exposure on indie radio.  Somehow it had all come together and they’d enjoyed a decade of success.  But all those years on the road had come at a cost.

 

“Fucking hipsters!  Fuck.  It doesn’t _mean_ anything anymore, Davos.  What the fuck are we doing?”

 

“Those fucking hipsters pay our salaries.”

 

“Is it all about the money for you?”

 

Davos chuckled bitterly.  He wasn’t going to have this argument again.  When Stannis got drunk he wanted to fight.  He got drunk more often these days.  Davos knew that his anger wasn’t directed at him, but it had taken years to figure that out.  Stannis’anger was born out of frustration.  Stannis had wanted to change the world ─ to start a revolution.  Davos had been content to enjoy the ride as long as he was with Stannis.

 

“You know that isn’t true.” 

 

He took the cigarette from Stannis’lips and took a puff himself, blowing the smoke out the side of his mouth.  Impulsively, he kissed Stannis, long and hard, before resting his forehead against Stannis’. They’d made the transition from friends to lovers fairly quickly but after all these years, Davos wasn’t sure if Stannis knew just how much he loved him.  “Come on, let’s get you in the van.  We have to be in Atlanta by tomorrow afternoon for soundcheck.”

 

“Where’s Brynden?” Stannis regarded him through half closed eyelids.

 

“He’s with his girlfriend.  She’s driving him to the next gig.”

 

Stannis nodded and allowed Davos to deposit him into the passenger’s seat in a loose-limbed heap.  Davos slid into the driver’s and before they’d reached the interstate, Stannis’head was resting heavy on his shoulder, his long legs drawn up on the seat, hands between his knees.

 

Davos was reaching to turn on the radio when he heard Stannis humming softly.  He could barely make out the tune, “More Than This” by Roxy Music.  _More than this_ _─_ _there is nothing_ _─_ _more than this_ _─_ _tell me one thing_ _─_ _more than this_.


	2. Sweet Jane

 

 

Relatively speaking, the concert at the Tabernacle did not go well.  Although the venue was sold out, the crowd enthusiastic and the performance one of their better ones, Davos tended to judge these things by how Stannis reacted.  On the Stannis scale of one (both equipment and bones were broken) to five (only minimal damage to equipment and/or bones), Davos rated the performance a two.  First, Stannis put his foot through Brynden’s drum kit on stage during the last song of the set.  This act both prevented an encore and caused Brynden to storm off the stage and refuse to return with them to the hotel.  Next, Stannis went to a pub down the street and proceeded to get not so quietly drunk.  This resulted in a fight between Stannis and the man sitting on the barstool beside him, which in turn resulted in badly bruised knuckles on Stannis’ right hand when he missed the jaw of the man he’d been aiming for and punched the bar instead.  After a trip to the emergency room at 3 AM, Davos had deposited Stannis ─ thankfully passed out by then ─ into their bed.  Stannis didn’t move for the rest of the night, but Davos slept fitfully and got up early to attend to some business.  

 

Davos returned to the room at 11 AM to drag Stannis, cursing profusely, out of bed and into the shower.  After a pot of strong black coffee in the hotel restaurant they were finally able to have a much needed conversation.  This behavior was extreme, even for Stannis, and Davos was worried.

 

“I’ve never known you to hate playing in Atlanta so much.” Davos began, trying his best not to sound confrontational.

 

“I don’t hate playing Atlanta.”

 

“Obviously, that’s why you trashed the drum kit and got into a bar fight.  Do you want to tell me what’s going on with you?”

 

Stannis scowled and Davos thought that he was going to ignore the question.  Maybe it was because he was sober for once or maybe it was the hangover, but Stannis surprised him by answering more thoughtfully and honestly than he had in months.

 

“The audience was a bunch of posers.  They don’t come for the music anymore.  They don’t come to change anything for the better.  They come to see me ─ to see if I’ll fuck up or break something.  They want to see me explode so they can tweet about it on Facebook.”

 

“Twitter.”  Davos corrected producing a snort and a handwave from Stannis.  “What about the guy in the bar?”

 

“He recognized me.  He said our last CD sucked and accused us of selling out.”

 

Davos winced.  He knew that comment would have touched a nerve.  He knew that was Stannis’ greatest fear and probably the reason that his drinking problem had gotten progressively worse these last few months on the road.  Stannis had never wanted to be famous, he’d only wanted to change the world.

 

“Do you want to quit?  Retire?  Go back to Seattle and open a bar and just hang out and tell stories?”

 

Stannis scowled but didn’t answer and fell into a sullen silence.

 

“Okay here’s the plan.”  Davos rose and signaled for the waitress.  “I’m going to order you some food.  You’re going to eat it then go back to the room and take some aspirin and have a nap.  I’ll be back later.”  

 

Stannis looked for a moment as if he wanted to protest but in the end simply nodded.  Apparently last night had taken a toll.  

 

When Davos returned several hours later it was dark outside and the room was freezing.  Stannis had apparently cranked the air conditioner before crawling into bed.

 

“Get dressed.”  Davos yanked the blanket off the still sleeping Stannis.  He paused for a moment, the sight of Stannis all warm and snuggly in bed wearing nothing but boxer briefs had him tempted to crawl in with him but he forced the thought from his head.  They had other obligations for the evening.  

 

“What’s the hurry?”  Stannis yawned and stretched.  “We don’t have a gig tonight.”

 

“As a matter of fact we do.”

 

“The fuck we do.”  Stannis argued, frowning but nevertheless grabbed his jeans from the floor and began to pull them on.  “Where?”

 

“You’ll see.”

 

Twenty minutes later they were standing in the alley behind a tiny dive bar in East Atlanta called, The Earl.  Brynden was waiting by the van having a smoke.

 

“Goddamn it Davos.  What are we doing here?” Stannis groused.  “The sign out front says, Mandolin Red is playing tonight.  It doesn’t say fuck about us.”

 

“I’ll start unloading.  Try not to destroy my new drum kit tonight will you, Stan?”  Brynden growled before grinding his cigarette butt into the pavement with his boot.

 

Ignoring him, Stannis eyed Davos suspiciously, waiting for an explanation.

 

“Mandolin Red is a band from North Carolina.  They’re a local favorite but not very well known.  They’re the headliner.  We’re opening for them.”

 

Stannis continued to stare at Davos skeptically.  

 

“You know those new songs you’ve been working on?  The ones we don’t play because everyone just wants to hear our greatest hits?”  Davos continued,  “Tonight we’re going to play them.  This audience is here because they like good music, not because they want to tell their friends they were there when Stannis Baratheon smashed his guitar.”

 

Stannis stared in silence awhile longer before his lips curled into a rare smile.  “I’m in.”

 

Davos judged the performance at the Earl a success, relatively speaking.  No equipment was damaged, except for the guitar that Stannis dropped while carrying it down the stairs.  No bones were broken.  The audience seemed to enjoy the set.  Stannis even lingered near the bar after the show, signing a few autographs and telling stories instead of drinking.  Sure, less than a hundred people were in attendance and only a dozen or so of those were old enough or savvy enough to even recognize Stannis.  But Stannis was happy and that was all that mattered, to Davos anyway.  All things considered, Davos rated it a five on the Stannis scale.  And later, when the headliner began playing a cover of The Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane” and Stannis grabbed Davos by the front of his T-shirt and dragged him into the toilet muttering about how he hadn’t sucked Davos off properly in ages, and he shoved his hand down the front of Davos’ jeans and began roughly stroking his cock ─ well, Davos bumped his rating to a perfect ten.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Music credits are Billy Bragg and Wilco's "Mermaid Avenue" and "More Than This: The Best of Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music". This was written for a prompt on Tumblr. As always many thanks for Vana for the beta.


End file.
